Big East visionary Dave Gavitt used to tell colleagues that the Final Four was proof that college basketball knew how to end a season. As for the best way to start it ... not so much.

Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany and his counterpart at the Big East, Val Ackerman, had that sentiment in mind as they sought for a way to benefit both conferences.

The result is a collaboration called the Gavitt Tipoff Games.

The Tribune has learned that Delany and Ackerman will introduce the new annual series in a news conference Monday at Madison Square Garden in New York. Eight teams from each league will square off at home sites beginning in the 2015-16 season. The contract runs eight years.

“This is like killing four birds with one stone,” Delany said in a telephone interview, as he people-watched in Central Park. “This is a way to honor Dave, help both conferences, give the college basketball some early-season ‘pop’ and, for me, it’s a little coming full circle.”

Delany’s father, Frank, played in the third Madison Square Garden while lettering for Seton Hall from 1937-41.

Jim Delany played in the current Madison Square Garden, which opened in 1968, as a guard for Dean Smith and North Carolina.

“The Big Ten has a great reputation as a football conference,” Ackerman said, “but Jim, at heart, has a lot of basketball in him. Once we got our folks to understand all the ramifications of this, it was an easy negotiation.”

Delany is eager to make East Coast inroads with Rutgers and Maryland officially joining the Big Ten on July 1.

“Every conference is re-educating the public about who is in their league,” Ackerman said. “Folks have to check the scorecard now – or go to Wikipedia to look it up.”

The eight yearly Gavitt Tipoff Games will be played on four consecutive days (Tuesday-Friday) in the first week of the season. Fox Sports1 will telecast the Big East home games, while ESPN and BTN will take the Big Ten home matchups.

Teams will be chosen based on competitiveness and geographical rivalries.

Games such as Northwestern-DePaul, Nebraska-Creighton, Wisconsin-Marquette, Rutgers-Seton Hall and Maryland-Georgetown could be folded into the series, but Delany said he hopes the annual matchups will be “additive, not in lieu of.”

“This binds the two regions together,” Delany said, “and builds the basketball for both conferences.”

Gavitt helped form the Big East in 1979, became its first commissioner and created the league’s post-season tournament, which is played at Madison Square Garden. The league became a TV powerhouse during his 12-year tenure, and six of its nine schools reached the Final Four. He passed away in 2011.